Forget-Me-Not
by Awesome-and-Possum
Summary: Just another 'Mark of Athena' fanfiction. The opinions of the whole crew as the Greeks step off the Argo II. Please R&R!


**A /N: I was so disappointed at the end of Son of Neptune. It just felt so... incomplete without them meeting Annabeth again. So incomplete that, like many other authors, I just had to write a fanfic. :D**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or The Heroes of Olympus. If I did, Annabeth would have showed up by now. **

**Enjoy!**

_Forget-Me-Not_

ANNABETH was feeling nervous.

She had been studying battle maps, scrolls, prophecies, anything to take her mind off of what was coming next. The ship lurched, and she huffed in annoyance. She probably could have built something better than the _Argo II_, but Leo insisted that he had to build their ride to California. It hadn't turned out too bad, she thought grudgingly. It wasn't her ideal cruise, though, and it wasn't with the person she wanted most.

"Annabeth?" Leo stuck his head inside the room and grinned. "We're here."

The past eight months had been pure torture for her. It was all a mystery, a cruel game of what-if—what if Percy didn't remember her? Jason hadn't remembered anyone from his past. Would Percy? She nearly choked on her own bitterness, her desperation. Annabeth took a deep breath. Come what may.

She tried to contain herself as she walked up the steps to the upper deck. After all, a daughter of Athena should appear cool and collected, particularly in front of the entire Roman legion. Unwanted butterflies practiced their aerial routines inside her stomach. Finally—after eight months of searching, hoping... she would see Percy again. Flinging any remaining dignity to the wind, she ran the rest of the way onto the deck.

It took her a few moments to spot him in the crowds. There were more half-bloods here than Annabeth had seen in all her years at Camp Half-Blood. Young, old... And then there he was, standing near the front –oh my gods, what was he wearing?—his hair falling loosely into his face. He looked older, somehow. Annabeth hated Hera for taking him away. She felt the mass of butterflies leap into her throat and a tear squeeze its way out of her eye.

GROVER had never felt so relieved.

There was his best friend, his best friend for years, his only friend, he recalled laughingly, back when their biggest problem was Nancy Bobofit and her peanut butter sandwiches. There was Percy—a little bruised, a little battered, but Percy. Percy.

Grover was the first one off the boat. He squeezed his way through the bedsheet clad warriors. One of them held a teddy bear, and he wondered off-topic what the Romans _really_ did all day.

"Perrrrcy!" Grover bleated, racing towards Percy as fast as his goat legs could carry him.

Percy embraced him. "Hey, man!"

PERCY was confused.

He missed Grover. Grover was his best friend. They had been friends since... forever.

But it still felt like something was missing. Until he looked up, straight into the stormy gray eyes of Annabeth, and all his fears melted. Percy felt as though as piece of him that had been torn away when Juno stole his memory was being sewn back. Painfully.

And now, everything was beginning to fit into place. Six of the seven were found, and now they were all in the same place. But where was Annabeth in his puzzle? He knew she had an important part to play, but no matter how he turned the pieces around, they still wouldn't fit. Something about what Juno had said unnerved him—scratch that, most of what Juno had said unnerved him. Percy shook his head to clear it. Despite anything anyone had said to him, he couldn't believe that Annabeth would do anything like that. He knew her.

At least, he hoped he did.

Annabeth dashed off the _Argo II_, pushing her way through the crowds and then coming to a dead stop in front of Percy. She looked up at him awkwardly.

"I- I know you might not remember me," she said, "And that's okay. I'm—"

"-Annabeth." Percy gave her a hug that made up for the last months without her.

Annabeth's tears flew thick and fast now. She held him back at arm's length, in case he slipped away from her again.

"Nice toga," Annabeth smiled through the tears.

Percy started to speak, but she cut him off with a kiss.

REYNA cleared her throat.

She was, to say the least, a little furious. The Greeks had come flying in on their ship in the middle of her camp, disturbed her meeting, started kissing in her forum, and brought along someone she had least expected. Someone whom she had wanted so badly to come back, and someone that she almost wished she would never see again.

Jason stepped off the ship. He didn't look anything like Reyna remembered him. His hair was longer, and more tangled. He wore an orange tee-shirt instead of his usual Camp Jupiter purple. And he held hands with a girl.

JASON was home.

He could feel it as he stepped slowly off the _Argo II, _his hand numbly grasping Piper's. She squeezed his hand and gave him a weak smile. "Here we are."

It was probably meant to be reassuring, but all it did was remind him how complicated his life was. And then he saw Reyna. Reyna, cold, unwelcoming, and utterly confused. He could understand that. He suddenly disappears from her life for a few months, and then just as suddenly comes back with someone else.

His palms felt sweaty. Here he was, after defeating Titans, armies and Cyclopes', afraid of a girl. Even if she was the most intimidating and powerful girl he had ever met. He tried to pull himself together as he walked to the middle of the forum.

PIPER didn't like the looks of the other girl.

She could feel the tension radiating between Jason and the stone-cold girl. And when Jason let go of her hand as he walked slowly towards the other girl, she knew her worst nightmare had come at last. Ever since Jason had woken up on the bus, she had been worrying about Jason's past. About another girl. The same girl who now stood mere feet from Piper.

Jason looked so confident as he strode through the forum, like he owned the place. Piper, on the other hand, felt like she was going to shatter into a million pieces if the other girl looked at her.

"Piper—this is Reyna. The... the other praetor." Piper had a feeling there was more to it than that. Reyna's eyes looked her over, as if deciding the best way to take her down.

"And Reyna... Piper."

LEO couldn't believe his luck.

Firstly, that his boat had made it across the US in one piece. Needless to say, he had his doubts. He had been 99% sure that it would work, but knowing him, something usually went wrong.

Second, that they hadn't been shot out of the sky once they had made it to Camp Jupiter. Hey, the campers didn't look as bad as he had expected. Actually, some of them were pretty good looking, in his opinion.

Maybe the Romans weren't as bad as they had been made out to be. This could work. But there was one girl in the crowd who kept staring his way, and it was unsettling him...

HAZEL couldn't believe her eyes.

Standing on the bow of the _Argo II_ stood Sammy Valdez. It couldn't possibly be him—seventy years had passed since she had seen him last. Gaea had told her that Sammy had grown up, gotten married... as hard as it was to swallow, it was nothing compared to seeing him here in person. There must be a mistake, a coincidence.

_No_, she told herself, _there's no such thing as a coincidence. Not for you, Hazel Levesque._

Then Gaea must be toying with her. How else could her old boyfriend be within her grasp, just as she was starting to get to know Frank?

It just wasn't fair.

_Life's not fair, Hazel._

FRANK wasn't sure about the boy on the boat.

For one thing, he didn't like the way Hazel was looking at him—a mixture of recognition, fear, and confusion. He thought he recognised the boy from somewhere, and then it hit him—Sammy, from Hazel's collection of photos in the warehouse. Now, Frank wasn't so good with dates, but if Hazel had gone into the Underworld in the 1940s, the kid would have been seventy, eighty years old. He sure didn't look it. And that was creepy.

Frank also felt something dangerous radiating from him. Just looking at him made Frank feel sick, like his life was ebbing away.

His stick. The boy was making the little stub warm, and even if it wasn't in Frank's pocket, he could feel it, like it was burning his life away. But how? All he knew was that the boy was dangerous.

Frank sighed. Well, at least they didn't have to go on any quests together.

Annabeth steered Percy away from the crowd. She needed air. She needed time to figure everything out. Annabeth took the first path out of the forum. She didn't know where she was going, but Percy didn't object to her gentle tugging on his toga. When they had come away from the stuffiness and the excitement of the forum, Annabeth stopped, drew herself up and stared into his eyes.

"Percy," she said, "Did you remember...when you woke up..."

"What?" he asked stupidly.

"M-me."

Percy grinned. "Of course I did, Wise Girl. You're unforgettable."

She paused for a moment, trying to detect the sarcasm in his voice. Then she frowned. "You, Perseus Jackson—" she kissed him, "Are the singularly most annoying person I have ever met!"

"No, seriously, Annabeth!" he protested. "You were the only person I remembered."

Annabeth sank slowly into the grass. Her legs felt like Jell-O. Percy sat down beside her.

"So are you coming home now? Coming back to camp?" she asked, knowing full well what his answer would be.

"Well...no," Percy said uncomfortably, his voice tinged with sadness. "You know, the quest, and the prophecy... but you're coming with, right?"

Annabeth laughed. It was the best sound Percy had heard in a long time. "You'd better count on it, Seaweed Brain."

She kissed him again, thinking of how good it felt to see him again as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and thinking of how she never wanted to let go.

**A/N: I hope you liked it. If not, well, I don't like it either. I realize that there are an insane amount of stories exactly like this one and that it was almost pointless to even attempt. But here's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!**

**(Cheers to JustBlossom for the editorial and mental support while this work was in progress.)**

**SLFN, Possum**


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